UNTIDY PERFORMANCES ON THE pitch, unsavoury events off it, football is in a right mess at Pride Park. The reliable standard “sack the board” ought to become a Derby County anthem, given its almost weekly rendition at the East Midlands club, where it was once more aired on Saturday night.
“Board Out” was also bellowed by nearly 1,000 supporters with banners aloft, although those who heard only the first word of the protestation probably thought that it was a post-match reaction to what had just passed for 90 minutes of entertainment.
Since Jeremy Keith, the chief executive, and John Sleightholme, the chairman, bought three shares for a £1 each to acquire the club in October 2003, the business acumen of the controlling body has been open to cynical scrutiny. Debts have increased from £30.7 million to about £45 milllion.
For Derby, there is an unlikely cavalry on the horizon, with Peter Gadsby, henceforth certain to be dubbed the Great Gadsby by his fans, galloping at the double to raise £20 million to restore ownership to a local consortium.
Gadsby, a Derby-based property developer and former vice-chairman of the club, is in negotiations with the Co-operative Bank, which is owed £29 million. But in an added twist to the saga, the present board members, so reviled by supporters, hope that SISU Capital, a private hedge-fund management house, will invest in the ailing club and preserve their privileged status. Since accountability and responsibility are homeless urchins in such a vacuum, the working conditions for Terry Westley ahead of a relegation encounter with Leicester City tomorrow are testing at the very least.
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The academy director has been in charge of the first team since Phil Brown’s dismissal last month yet, despite encouraging glimpses, two points from three games have only exacerbated fears of demotion. “I didn’t hear the supporters chanting today and to be honest I have enough on, picking the team with players injured and suspended and running the academy, without worrying about the board’s situation,” he said.
Danny Graham could have been playing long after the protests had died down and still would not have scored against Leeds United. The on-loan Middlesbrough forward fluffed Derby’s best chance in the 59th minute, while Jonathan Douglas spooned a right-foot tap-in wide to deny Leeds the victory that their possession would have vindicated.
The three protagonists chasing the last automatic promotion place behind Reading are embroiled in mighty games tomorrow evening. Leeds, who are fourth, are at home to third-placed Watford while Sheffield United play the league leaders at Bramall Lane. Doubtless an evening of destiny. The worry for Derby is that their fate is in the hands of the men in suits and number crunchers to whom the club sold their soul and mortgaged their body long ago.